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Sindhu may face Tai Tzu in Japan Open semifinals

PV Sindhu may get another chance to settle the score with Tai Tzu Ying at the $700000 Japan Open BWF Tour Super 750 tournament which gets underway in Tokyo on Tuesday.

| TNN | Sep 10, 2018, 18:27 IST

PV Sindhu. (PTI Photo)

HYDERABAD: PV Sindhu may get another chance to settle the score with Tai Tzu Ying at the $700000 Japan Open BWF Tour Super 750 tournament which gets underway in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Sindhu is expected to reach the semifinals where she might face Tai. After beating Tai at the 2016 Olympics, Sindhu lost to the world No.1 six times. But of late the Indian has been closing in on the Asian Games champion. Chief coach Pullela Gopichand said that Sindhu should adopt a fast-paced approach against Tai. "She is getting close to beat her. We should allow Tai to play more rallies. Sindhu practiced quite well and I am confident she will win the title this time," Gopichand said.

The last minute pull out of Saina Nehwal avoided a potential all-Indian quarterfinal. It is learnt that Saina skipped the tournament to focus more on practice and get ready for the next week's China Open. Sindhu faces Sayaka Takahasi of Japan on Tuesday.

Jakka Vaishnavi Reddy is the other Indian in women's singles. Vaishnavi got a tough first round against Gao Fangie of China.

Indian men, who are struggling to get past the first few rounds, have got a difficult draw. Seventh seed Kidambi Srikanth will begin against China's Huang Yuxiang of China in the first round. Though Srikanth enjoys a 2-1 career record he lost to Huang at the All England Open in March.

HS Prannoy will face Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the first round. Sameer Verma, who won the Hyderabad Open on Sunday, will play Korean veteran Lee Dong Keun in the first round. Sameer will be arriving in Tokyo on Tuesday morning after a long journey and would step on the court in the evening. Meanwhile, Sai Praneeth pulled out of the event.

Gopichand said that conditions would be tough for men in Japan. "We have got little time to prepare for this event. But the boys did well. However, the slow conditions in Tokyo will be difficult for our shuttlers," said Gopichand.

Hyderabad Open men's doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty face Japanese third seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda in the first round. The other Indian pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri play Malaysians Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong first.

Women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy have a difficult task on hand as they meet Koreans Chang Ye Na and Jung Kyung Eun. If they cross this first hurdle they would run into top seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.

Mixed doubles duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy are expected to reach the quarterfinals. However, the other Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy may find it difficult against second seeds Yilyu Wang and Huang Dongping of China.

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